Sales of Apple’s new iPhone 5 may double those of previous models in its first week and reach 33million by the end of the quarter, brokerage houses have forecast.

The iPhone 5 will no doubt fly off the shelves when released later this month (Picture: Reuters)

Favourable projections were fuelled by the speed at which Apple plans to roll out the new iPhones, which some see as evidence they will be able to meet the demand for the handsets.

The iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order tomorrow and will be shipped to the UK on September 21.

Stock in Apple Inc closed at $669.79 on Wednesday, but it is thought the lusted-after smartphone might cause share prices to rise by as much as $60, to between $750 and $820 (£509).

‘We are positively surprised that this iPhone rollout is Apple’s fastest yet,’ Barclays Equity Research said in a message to its clients.

Meanwhile William Blair & Co added that it believes Apple will continue to triumph in sales of older models.

iPhone 5 features a longer, slimmer design (Picture: EPA)

‘The iPhone 4 will be sold for free after subsidies, replacing the 3GS and providing a strong product to compete in the high-growth, low-end smartphone market,’ the financial services firm said.

Brokerage sales forecasts for all iPhones in this quarter have been raised as high as 33million, according to Reuters, while RBC Capital Markets said it expected the Cupertino firm to ship between 8m and 10m iPhone 5s by the end of the month.